Rotation, Reflection, Repetition, Repetition.

Our first exhibition of the year starts off appropriately at the beginning with some of the basic concepts of visual design. Using the foundational ideas of rotation, reflection, and repetition, the exhibited project creates complex & beautiful patterns and textures using a selection of blackletter typefaces.

Presented in this show are 44 typographic patterns created by students in the Visual Communications program at the Universität der Künste Berlin. The participants of Simone von Eldik’s typography seminar (assisted by Tanja Kapahnke), inspired by Judith Schalansky’s book »Fraktur mon Amour«, created patterns from glyph fragments or letter combinations from four typefaces that had been theoretically examined in class: Textura »Weiss Gotisch« (Emil Rudolf Weiß | Bauersche Gießerei 1936 | Petra Heidorn 2004), Rotunda »Alpine« (Dieter Steffmann 2000), Bastarda »Bastarda K« (Manfred Klein 2004), and Fraktur »Leibniz« (ca. 1750 | Genzsch & Heyse 1912 | Petra Heidorn 2003). In contrast with the ever-present stereotype of blackletters as being symbols for Germanism and patriotism, a multitude of patterns with surprisingly modern, contemporary aesthetics emerged.